Golden Star landlady Lil Le Grice, her partner Marc Albutt, and the cat Winston, celebrate the pub reopening with some of the regulars after a car crashed into the building last week. Picture: Denise Bradley

Landlady Elizabeth Le Grice was forced to close the Golden Star pub in Colegate when a car went into the building during the busy evening rush-hour last Friday.

But drinkers were back enjoying a pint at the boarded-up pub yesterday.

One customer said: “We are pleased that it has reopened. It was closed so long that it was getting to the point that we were going to try another pub, before we found out it had reopened.”

Another regular, who was sitting at the bar, added: “It’s nice to be back.”

Miss Le Grice, who had been serving behind the bar at the time of the crash, said: “It’s been horrible being closed, as we did not know if the building was structurally sound after the crash.

“But it is, and we have been able to reopen with a temporary wall at the front of the building.

“It will take another three to four weeks to repair the building, and get it back to normal – it will be even better than it was before.

“We will need a new wall, windows and doors and the floor will need to be redone.”

She said the pub had lost nearly a week’s takings while it was shut, and added that they were still working out how much the repairs would cost.

People had been enjoying a quiet afternoon drink in the summer sun when a Nissan Almera with two young children in the back crashed into the pub, narrowly missing drinkers and sending glass and people flying.

Emergency services, including police, fire and ambulance, were called at about 4.30pm on Friday, but miraculously no one was seriously hurt.

People looking to have a pint at the popular watering hole last weekend were greeted by a sign on the door which read: “Due to unforeseen car issues we are closed.”

However, publicans across the city rallied round to support the landlady, who has been at the pub for more than 12 years.

Poringland Insurance Services has also reopened after a Vauxhall Corsa crashed through the front of the building at about 11.30am on Saturday. It reopened for business on Monday morning.

Richard Beevor, the manager of the insurance brokers, said at the time that a woman member of staff would normally have been sitting at the desk destroyed by the car but luckily the office was empty following a recent decision not to open on a Saturday morning.

Anyone with information about the Golden Star crash should call Pc Bob Connor or Pc Dave Carter on 101.

Have you got a story about your local in the Norwich area? Email david.bale2@archant.co.uk

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Whilst it is unclear exactly why the car ended up in the bar at the Golden Star, I understand it has happened before many years ago and more recently there was a similar accident a few doors down Duke Street. The Golden Star is where Duke Street narrows after the ill conceived widening in the 1970s. The planners had intended to knock down the Star and many other historic buildings and continue the widened road to the inner ring road. Traffic comes down Duke street too fast and often hits stationary traffic leading to the ring road roundabout. Traffic calming like narrowing the wide part of Duke Street and speed bumps could help prevent a similar, perhaps fatal accident in the future. I've sat many times where the car came through and hate to think of the carnage there could have been.

Hello Nexus_6
I assume therefore that you are aware of all the facts, i.e that the driver didn't suffer a seizure or there wasn't a major failure with the vehicle?
I am a big believer that the world would be a much nicer place if people weren't so quick to judge. I do also believe that everyone is entitled to an opinion as long as that opinion has been well thought out and based on fact.

These idiot drivers should be charged with criminal damage and banned from driving for at least a year.There is no excuse for driving into a building.Perhaps one could take evasive action to avoid a stag,but I haven't seen too many of them on Duke St lately.